Pots for Alnico II Pros

[Doctorew]

Hi gang. I'm a newbie here although I've been posting on the Fender Discussion page for a long time.

I recently acquired a Valley Arts Custom Pro (Tele series) with Alnico II Pros. I'm a big fan of these pups, but in this guitar they seem overly bright for my tastes. I have to roll the tone knob back almost 75 percent to get the tones I like. I check the pots and they are both 500k.

Would a switch to 250k pots help with this problem? I have 250k pots in most of my other guitars and am pleased with the tones.

Thanks for any input!

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

Hey Doctorew WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!!!

I have an A2P in the bridge of my heritage as well it's a GREAT pup.

Although switching to 250k ohm would definitely darken the tone I'm afraid that you might also make it sound muffled. I what I would recommend is trying a different cap value. I use a .047uF in my Heritage. In my strat I'm running an orange drop .022 and it makes for a brighter sound. A lot of Strats and Teles have .022 so your guitar might be rigged with one as well. I would try a .033 then maybe a .047. You can get cheap ceramic caps at Radioshack about 200 various caps for $3. I use sprague orange drops they were $.87 from blackrose custom www.blackrosecustom.emerchantpro.com Lew might sell them too but I don't know. www.lewguitar.com

Hope that helps man!

Luke

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

A 250 pot will be fine. I use them in my strat with A2 Pro's humbuckers B/N and vintage rail middle and it sounds great.

Cap values have little effect when the tone is on 10. Personally I use a 22 on everything. 47's make 3/4 of the tone knob range completely unusable for me.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

A .02 cap will leave more mids in the signal when you turn down the tone control. A .047 cap will send the highs and the mids to ground when you turn down the tone control. I do stock the .02 Sprague Orange Drops.

Personally, I wouldn't go with 250K pots and I agree with Luke Duke that the tone would be to muffled...at least to muffled for my tastes.

Can't you just turn down the treble on your amp? Or turn down the presence control if you have one? Or turn off the bright switch?

Lew

 

[Doctorew]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

Thanks for the input. Lew, sure I can adjust my amp tone, but I have it set so that my other guitars all sound about right. The reason I asked about the tone pots is that all of my other guitars have 250k pots and I really like the tone range and control.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

If you do a google search you can find a few simple resistor mods that will cut down on the high end without sacrificing clarity, or pot taper. Lew might know of some wiring tricks.

Luke

 

[BlueGuitar]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

The reason I asked about the tone pots is that all of my other guitars have 250k pots and I really like the tone range and control.

A quick'n'dirty way to test this is to tack solder a 220k or 270k resistor from the wiper of the 500k pot to ground. This WILL change the taper of the pot (i.e., the response as you turn it up from 0 to 10) but when set to 10 it should give you a very good idea of what your guitar would sound like with 250k pots. (I like what it does to the taper so I have a few strats permanently wired that way.)

 

[BachToRock]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

I recently acquired a Valley Arts Custom Pro (Tele series) with Alnico II Pros. I'm a big fan of these pups, but in this guitar they seem overly bright for my tastes. I have to roll the tone knob back almost 75 percent to get the tones I like. I check the pots and they are both 500k.

Would a switch to 250k pots help with this problem? I have 250k pots in most of my other guitars and am pleased with the tones.

Thanks for any input!

When you say TELE SERIES... does that mean the pickups are Tele Alnico Pro II's? If so, definitely switch to 250k's... even with the humbuckers a 250k pot will work nicely and will probably balance with your other instruments better.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

When you say TELE SERIES... does that mean the pickups are Tele Alnico Pro II's? If so, definitely switch to 250k's... even with the humbuckers a 250k pot will work nicely and will probably balance with your other instruments better.

:smack: :smack: :smack:

That hadn't even OCCURRED to me!

Luke

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

If you're talking about single coil APTL-1 and APTR-1 Tele pickups, then 250K pots would be in order. Never thought the neck pickup in that set was especially bright though and when I had it in my Tele with a Jerry Donahue I thought maybe 500K pots might be better.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

If you're talking about single coil APTL-1 and APTR-1 Tele pickups, then 250K pots would be in order. Never thought the neck pickup in that set was especially bright though and when I had it in my Tele with a Jerry Donahue I thought maybe 500K pots might improve the treble response..

 

[Doctorew]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

Yes, they are Tele Alnico IIs. That's why I thought the 250s might be the way to go.

Thanks, Drew

 

[MattPete]

Re: Pots for Alnico II Pros

In my strat with APS Alnico 2 single coils, I use 250k no-load pots.

In my strat with an APH Alnico 2 humbucker, I use 500k pots.